Montreal is home to an estimated 500,000 cats and that's a cause for concern because recent studies have shown that people who own pets have been getting infected with the Toxoplasmosis brain parasite that alters their personalities, which research has demonstrated makes people reckless and more prone to being involved in motor vehicle accidents.The toxoplasma gets into the food chain through mice, the t. gondii or toxo, as it's also known hides in the rodent's immune system.
The bug gets to the mouse's brain and it turns the rodent fearless, making it easy prey for cats.The cat then gets infected with the bug and transmits it to humans.
A British study has shown that 1,000 people a day are getting toxoplasma through cats or poorly cooked meat. Leading researcher Jaroslav Flegr says that due to their high-consumption of bloody meat, the French have an estimated rate of 55 percent infection.
A recent study from Sweden indicates that people infected with toxo have higher rates of schizophrenia, depression and other mental ailments.
Flegr's studies suggests that men infected with the parasite become sloppy, mistrustful and introverted, while it does the opposite to women, who "tended to be more meticulously attired, many showing up for the study in expensive, designer-brand clothing. Infected men tended to have fewer friends, while infected women tended to have more."
Those infected by toxo "were about two and a half times as likely to be in a traffic accident as their uninfected peers."
So if you have a cat, you might consider these things and possibly get a blood test, apparently a malaria medication called Clindamycin can help get rid of the bug.
So it won't be long before someone crunches the numbers and finds out what this easily-avoidable cat-borne parasite is costing the public purse and the continued co-existence with cats subsequently put into question.